Earlier this week Kiah Stokes earned special recognition as one of 20 UConn student-athletes to earn a 4.0 grade-point average in either the recently-completed fall semester or in the spring of 2014. Her hard work in the classroom could earn her a national honor.

Stokes was named one of 10 women's basketball finalists for the Senior CLASS Award which recognizes the senior who combines excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community.

When Stokes was informed about the prestigious honor, she looked at the list of fellow finalists and seeing the impressive list only made the honor all the more precious to her.

The list includes Duke's Elizabeth Williams, Amber Orrange of Stanford and Iowa's Samantha Logic.

She joked that she could request assistance from the Husky faithful to join 2002 winner Sue Bird, 2011 honoree Maya Moore and last year's winner Stefanie Dolson as the UConn players to win the award.

"I told my fans, vote for me," Stokes said with a laugh. "We will see whether that happens, I don't know.

"I can't play basketball forever so whenever that ends, I need to fall back on something. Being nominated for this, I think it shows a lot about me just because I have been working hard in the classroom and with community service, I want to have something to do after basketball."

Stokes came to UConn with a reputation of being a first-rate student and has lived up to the advanced billing. She said her parents emphasized the importance of doing the work in the classroom but it is also something that she has always prided herself on.

"It is definitely about getting real good grades," Stokes said. "When I was in high school I had a math class and it was the only B I ever got in high school. I failed the test and I was heartbroken over it because I knew the material and I didn't do well on the test. School, it is hard work but I like to excel in school."

Stokes needs 15 rebounds to become the 17th UConn player with 750 in her career and is fourth on the career blocked shots list with 287. She needs two more blocks to take over sole possession of the No. 3 spot on the UConn single season list.

Fans can vote until March 23 at www.seniorclassaward.com with the fan voting one portion of the process of selecting the winner.